Sotto bill seeks to ban ‘Batman and Robin’

Sen. Vicente Sotto III. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines–Senator Vicente “Tito” Sotto III has filed a bill banning motorcycle back-riders in the country, saying “this evil Batman and Robin tandem” should be stopped for good.

In filing Senate Bill No. 2344, Sotto pointed out the data of the Philippine National Police, which showed that more than 3,000 crimes related to riding in tandem motorcycle riders were    recorded last year in Metro Manila alone.

He said news and social media were also rife with reports of robberies, murders and other crimes perpetrated by suspects riding in tandem.

“Motorcycle back-riders, most commonly known as the riding-in-tandem criminals have an ample opportunity to commit heinous crimes with impunity because of the facility of getting away from the crime scene by use of a motorcycle which can avoid and wind through even heavy traffic,”    Sotto said in a statement    on Tuesday.

“This bill gives law enforcers to flag down the driver and question them,” he said.

Under    his    bill, any person who violates the provision of the law, upon conviction, would be penalized by    up to six years imprisonment and a fine of P20,000 for the first offense and an additional P10,000 for every succeeding offense.

The proposed measure though provides some exemptions― first, if the back riders are spouse, child and parent of the driver, and second, if they members of the Armed Forces of the Philippines and Philippine National Police personnel who are in duty and in uniform are also exempted.

“This may be frowned upon by some members of society, but we have to think of the higher good of protecting the life and limb of our citizens,” Sotto said.

He said the bill could still be refined and debated upon in the committee level to make it responsive and effective in deterring crime.

“Let’s have an open discussion, argue on the pros and cons and let’s see where this leads us,” said the senator, as he sought    the immediate passage of the measure.